Lockup construction for firearms



July 7, 1942. F. 'r. GREEN LOCKUP CONSTRUCTION FOR FIREARMS Filed Nov.21, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l mveu'ro'n FRANK T. GREEN ATTORNEYS Juiy 7,1942. T, GREEN I 2,288,901

LOCKUP CONSTRUCTIONIOR FIREARMS Filed Nov. 21, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2mimnu INVENTOR FRANK T. GREEN W a W TTTT RNEYS Patented July 7, 1942LOCKUI CONSTRUCTION FOR FIREARMS Frank T. Green, Chicopee Falls, Mass,assignor to Savage Arms Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation ofDelaware Application November 21, 1939, Serial No. 305,515

Claims.

This invention relates to fire arms and particularly to the short rearstocks therefor and to the lock-up construction or joint between arelatively short rear stock of a gun and its frame or receiver.

The purpose of my present invention is to provide a rear stock ofgrainless,homogeneous molded plastic material and to provide a new andimproved lock-up construction, that is the joint between a relativelyshort rear stock the front end of which abuts against a rearward part orat least against rearwardly directed shoulders upon theaction-containing frame of the gun.

Heretofore the practically universal practice on the lock-upconstructions of this general type of shot guns and rifles has been toprovide the forward end of the wood stock with either recesses orprojections complementary to and adapted to interfittingly engagerecesses or projections upon the rearward part of the action-containingframe or receiver.

One common form of making the forward end of the rear stock interfitwith the rear or a rearward part of the frame has been to provideforwardly projecting lugs or parts of the wood spaced inwardly from theopposite sides of the stock and so provide more or less extensiveoutwardly facing shoulders which engage inwardly facing surfaces uponthe sides of the hollow or box-like rear end of the chambered portion ofthe frame or receiver. The forward end of the stock outside these lugsbutted against the rear end of this portion of the frame and then meansof various types were provided to draw and hold together the frame andthe stock, such means usually engaging a rearward tang or other rearwardextension of the frame and extending back into the stock. Due to theinherent weakness in Wood and its possibility of splitting along thegrain, these forwardly projecting lugs or other extensions of wood atthe front end of the stock to engage within the frame had to beconsiderable in extent, and practically the laterally-directed faces orshoulders of these lugs had to be fitted by hand-work to the interiorfaces of the engaged portion of the hollow metal frame. In practicethese chambered frames are of cast or forged metal and that method ofmaking frames does not lend itself to these inner stockengaging facesbeing spaced precisely enough from the outward main side faces of theframe. This possibility of variance in the relative positions of thedifferent fitting surfaces of the frame has resulted in the practice ofhand-fitting a given wood stock to one definite metal frame by cuttingaway as required a little of the wood on I the outward faces of theseforward lugs upon the stock and thus making a good permanent butindividual and non-interchangeable fit for this pair of parts of a gun.After all the various intermediate steps of manufacture were carried outupon the separated rear stock and the metal frame of this pair, thesetwo members would be brought together and the interior, permanent andnon-interchangeable fit formerly made between the frame and the outersurfaces of the lugs on the stock would be supplemented by sanding downthe exterior faces (when assembled) of the forward part of the stock toharmonize with the exterior faces or surfaces of the frame until alladjoining exterior faces or surfaces upon the two parts of the pairfollow the same contour or are in alignment with each other. Up to thisfinal fitting of the ultimately exterior faces of these two parts anexcess of wood has been provided upon the stock and this excess of woodis removed as by suitable sanding operations until the exterior woodfaces or surfaces have been brought into alignment or harmonious blendwith the adjoining exterior portions of the metal frame, thus making theWood frame still further individually fitted to this particular frameand so more definitely non-interchangeable with other frames. It mayhappen as an incident to this sanding operation that a little of themetal of the frame may be removed in places and thus even the frame isshaped slightly to fit its particular rear stock and for the same reasonthis frame would not make a good smooth fit with a stock which has beenpreviously fitted to another frame. It will be seen that this fitting byhand of an individual stock and frame involves a positive identificationof the two parts of this pair and a bringing of those parts togetheragain for the final finishing and assembling and also involves aconsiderable amount of skilled hand-work and also supervision andrecords.

One purpose of this present invention is to overcome the disadvantagesand extra work and cost of this individual fitting of the two members ofa pair of rear stock and frame and this I accomplish by providing a rearstock formed of molded plastic grainless material and having thesemolded stocks and metal frames so formed and shaped and proportioned andso co-operating that they can be readily placed and fastened togetherwithout any hand-fitting or hand-finishing due to there being noappreciable variations in the inter-engaging faces or surfaces or partsof the frames and stocks. In making these stocks by a molded process andthe frames by I vide a molded plastic stock of such form, shape andconstruction that it takes advantage of the inherent strengthand othergood qualities of a I molded grainless plastic material and avoids anypossible disadvantagesof that material and fur- Y ther to have theco-operating frame of such con-,

struction as to properly combine and interfit with the molded stock soas to produce a lock-up construction that is simple and economicalto-manufacture, easily assembled, not liable to break or get out oforder but where the parts; are readily detachable if required. Afurtherpurpose of this invention is to pro vide a firearm stock made of moldedgrainless plasticmaterial of. homogeneous structure and shaped to formpart of an improved lock-up construction. Such material is of greaterstrength inseveral ways than wood and is freefrom the liability thatwood has of splitting along its grain and free from several troublesomecharac- 'teristics that wood has, such as warping, shrinking andexpanding- This molded plastic material is not only easily made into theprecise size 1 and shape of a stock by a molding process without anyhand fitting but when a stock is thus made of that material, the stockis free from splitting and is permanent or stable in size andshapeandfree from warping, shrinking'and expanding and so is admirablyadapted to form a stock'that is interchangeable with any one of a seriesof similar, definitely and precisely formed frames. named as well as forother reasons actuallycompelled an individual hand-made andnon-interchangeable fitting between each pair of a frame and a stockwhile the molded plastic grainless stock provides a stock that can bemade by machinery and with machine precision so that any one of anentire series of stocks will with assurance be interchangeable with astandard machine finished frame.

While there are still limits to the strength of this molded grainlessplastic material, its strength and stability are so much greater thanwood, that a thoroughly practicable and interchangeable lock-upconstruction can be made between a frame and a rear stock of moldedgrainless plastic material and one of the purposes of and bind togetherthe forward edges and the usually bifurcated front end of the rearstock.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the frame or receiver of one type of 'gunand the forward end of the rear stock therefor embodying this invention.

Fig. 2 is a top or plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the rear half of the frame shown in Figs.1 and 2 and Fig. 4 is a top view thereof.

Fig. 5 is a combined side elevation and sectional View on line 5-5 ofFig. 2.

Fig. 6 is an isometric View of the forward part of the rear stockseparately.

Fig. '7 is a cross-sectional view on line 1 1 of The wooden stock forthe reasons above Fig. 3 and so shows a rear elevation of the rear endof the frame but without its tang portions. Referring to the, drawingsaccompanying this ,barrel shot gun having a breakdown action butembodying the lock-up construction of my present' invention.

the conventional double-barreled gun shown herein but is also applicableto a conventional single-barreled shot gun of that general type and toover and under double-barreled shot guns and rifles, to slide-actionpump guns and automatic shot guns and rifles and to all types of gunswherein the rear stock is separate and apart from the forward part ofthe gun.

Referring to the drawings in a more particular description, it will beseen that there is shown. the action-holding frame or receiver it] andthe forward part of the rear stock I the fastening together of which twopartsare commonly called,

in the art, a lock-up construction. As plainly shownin theseveralviewsthereof, Figs. 1 to 5,

the frame IE! consists of the breech portion I2,

the body portion I3 extending forwardlytherefrom andthe tang [4extending rearwardly from the. back end of the breech portion. The bodyportion receives thereabove the rearend of the thereto the fore-end ironwhich makes a swinging joint with the front end of the body portion andatits forward end has fastened theretothe fore stock, all of well-knownconstruction not needed to be further indicated or described herein.Rearward of the breech face itself the breech I2 is a hollow orchambered member which houses the hammer, trigger and certain otherparts of the action of the gun. The rear end of this breech portion l2particularly is a more or less rectangular shaped hollow box a rearelevation of which is shown in Fig. 7 and provides several transverselyextending faces hereinafter more particularly and separately described,but which together form the surfaces against which the more or lesscomplementaryshaped faces upon the front end of the stock H abut orengage.

As already suggested the .rear stock H is formed by a molding process ofgrainless plastic material. In the particular type of gun shown in Figs.1 to 7 the forward end of the stock is bifurcated or provided with adeep vertically extending recess l5 leaving right and left hand arms l6and I1. This vertically extending recess I 5 is to receive theparticular form of tang l l shown as extending rearwardly from the frameill. The forward ends of the two arms it and I! provide severaltransverse faces to abut against the plurality of transverse facesalready mentioned as being at the rear end of the boxlike portion of thebreech l2. The detail construction of these transverse faces upon thestock will be described hereafter together with the adjacent laterallydirected shoulders upon the stock and the up and down facing shouldersupon the sides of the stock which shoulders have an inter-engagingaction with complementary formed or shaped shoulders upon the rear endof the box-like breech Hi, the co-operation of which will be hereafterdescribed. The tang of the form of frame shown in Figs. 1 to 7 consistsof an upper tang H], a lower tang 19 both pro- It will be understoodthat my lock-up construction is not limited to use. with I jectingrearwardly from the central portion of the breech portion [2 and attheir rearward end connected by a preferably integrally-formed bridge20. The space between the upper and lower tangs l8 and I9 and forward ofthe bridge 20 forms part of the space for housing within the chamber ofthe frame member certain parts of the action of the gun. In some typesof gun the part I have already referred to as the lower tang i9 and thebridge 20 is a separate portion but locked at its front end to thebreech member and at the rear having its bridge portion locked to therear end of the upper tang and in such constructions this separate pieceis called a trigger plate. In the bridge portion of the tang whetherintegral or unitary as just mentioned there is provided a longitu'dnallyextending centrally disposed threaded hole 2| into which isscrew-threaded the forward end of the retaining bolt-locating lug 22 therear and main por tion of which is of larger diameter and fits closelyinto a correspondingly diametered hole 23 provided in the adjacentportion of the stock H. In the rear end of this lug is provided acentrally located threaded hole 24 adapted to receive the screw-threadedforward end of the retaining bolt 25 which extends rearwardly through ahole 25 provided in the body of the stock and extending to the generallytransverse face 21' against which face sets an apertured pressure plate28 of sumcient area to distribute the strain over a considerable portionof the face 2?. The head 29 of the retaining bolt 25 bears against theplate 28 and by rotation of this bolt in an obvious manner the lock-upconstruction is completed and the frame [0 and the rear stock H aresecurely held together.

It will be understood that the somewhat specific description of abuttingtransverse faces upon the frame member and upon the forward end of therear stock and the oppositely disposed and interengaging longitudinalshoulders, including upon the rearward end of the frame inwardlydirected shoulders, upwardly directed shoulders and downwardly directedshoulders engaging oppositely placed and directed shoulders upon theforward ends of the rear stock arms are only illustrative of one goodand practical form of this invention and such description of specificfaces and shoulders is not to be taken as a limitation upon theinvention or as limiting the invention to the particular form of facesand shoulders shown in the drawings and described in this specificationfurther than required by the claims herein. In other words the inveniionmay be said to reside in providing a frame member ordinarily of metaland that can have its rear end accurately machined so as to providetransverse faces and a series of inwardly facing shoulders andoppositely disposed upwardly and downwardly facing shoulders allaccurately made and so located that the transverse faces upon the saidframe will abut against oppositely located transverse faces upon theforward ends of the rear stock arms and so that the inwardly directedshoulders upon the frame will engage and interfit and interlock withoutwardly directed shoulders near the forward ends of the arms of therear stock so as to prevent spreading of the said arms and in fact, bindthe arms tightly and properly in place and furthermore so that the pairsof oppositely located downwardly and upwardly facing shoulders upon therear end of the box-like frame will interlock with complementaryupwardly and ill ' closely engage similar but downwardly facingshoulders upon the said ends of the arms of the rear stock so as toprevent any relative upward or downward movement of the rear stock or ofthe frame relative to the other member.

Bearing in mind the foregoing generalization of the construction of theinvention I will now describe the specific form of the parts shown inFigs. 1 to '7, which is a thoroughly practical and my now preferred formof the invention.

As best shown in Fig. 6, the right hand and left hand arms or prongs l6and ll of the rearstock have at their front upper portions immediatelynext to the recess [5 transverse faces 39-39 which bear directly againstcorrespondingly located transverse rearwardly directed faces 3l-3I uponthe upper portion of the frame If] immediately neXt or to the outside ofthe upper tang portion [8, as best shown in Figs. 2, 4 and 7. Similarlythe lower front portions of the arms It and H have forwardly directedfaces 32-32 which are intended to and when the parts are assembled doabut intimately against similarly but oppositely located rearwardlydirected faces 3333 upon the lower portion of the rear end of the frame99 immediately outside of the lower tang portion is. As the parts areshown in the drawings these cooperating pairs of faces are flush witheach other upon the outside of the assembled frame and rear stock butthe faces upon the rear stock may be a little greater in verticalextent, which, it will be obvious, tends to strengthen the rear stockparts in that the rear stock as already intimated .is of molded plasticmaterial which although very strong does not have per square inch ofarea the strength that is present in the metallic frame H).

Besides the pair of transverse faces upon the frame inthe rear stockjust mentioned, there are several sets of longitudinal shoulders uponboth parts. First there are four longitudinally extending inwardlyfacing shoulders upon the rearward end of the frame, namely a shoulder 3c, at the upper right hand corner of the frame as shown in Figs. 2, 4and 7 immediately next to the face 35 and extending rearwardlytherefrom, and a similar shoulder 34 provided upon the lower right handcorner of the frame next to the lower right hand transverse face 33.This pair of inwardly directed shoulders 34, are intended to and dodirectly interfit with the outwardly facing rearwardly extendingshoulder 35 provided respectively upon the right hand upper and lowercorners of the right hand rear stock arm l5, and which shoulders extendrearwardly from their meeting line with the transverse faces 30 alreadymentioned. Similarly there are inwardly directed longitudinallyextending shoulders 35-3B upon the upper and lower portions respectivelyof the left hand side of the frame, which shoulders extend forwardlyfrom the transverse faces 3! as most plainly appears in Figs. 2, f and7. These shoulders at are intended to and do outwardly facing shoulders3l31 extending on the left hand arm I? of the rear stock from the uppertransverse face 35 and the lower transverse face 32. It will now be seenthat these two pairs of shoulders E- i34 and 3635 upon the frame bearinwardly against the outwardly facing shoulders 35 and 37 on the arms ofthe rear stock and so through the greater strength of the metallic frameoperate to reinforce the bifurcated front end of the rear stock andpractically overcome any tendency of the said forestock to be spreadapart by any strain placed thereon. While the shoulders and 31 are notextensive longitudinally of the rear stock there is sufficient area inthese shoulders to make a positive engagement with the correspondingshoulders upon the frame and so accomplish the purpose of holding thesetwo members, namely the frame and the rear stock, from displacementrelative to each other.

Stepped rearwardly from the upper transverse faces 3| on the frame thereare provided upon the right hand and left hand corners additionaltransverse faces 38 which begin at the shoulders 34 and 36 and extendrespectively outwardly at the two corners to the level of the exteriorside face 40 of the frame and exactly match similar but oppositelylocated, that is forwardly directed, faces 39 upon the upper corners ofthe two arms of the rear stock. These faces 39 begin at the shoulders 35and 31 respectively and extend out to the level of the outer sides 4| ofthe front portion of the rear stock.

Stepped rearwardly from the lower transverse faces 33 on the frame thereare provided upon the right hand and left hand corners of the frameadditional transverse faces 42 which begin at the shoulders 34 and 36respectively and extend outwardly at the two corners to the level of theexterior side face 40 of the frame and exactly match similar butoppositely located, that is forwardly directed, faces 4343 upon thelower corners of the two arms of the rear stock. These faces 43 begin atthe shoulders 35 and 3'! respectively and extend out to the level of theouter sides 4| of the front portion of the rear stock.

Between these corner transverse faces 38 and 42 upon the upper and lowercorners respectively of the frame at its rear end there is provided astill further transverse face 44, which is offset forwardly from saidfaces 38 and 42 and. spaced therefrom somewhat by upper and lowerslanting surfaces 45 and 46 respectively, as most plainly appears inFigs. 1 and 5. The upper slanting surfaces 45, it will be seen, in themain extend downwardly while lower slanting surfaces 46 in the main faceupwardly. These three faces just described have their counterpart ofsimilar shape and arrangement, on the right hand side of the frame,namely the transverse face 44 and the upper slanting face 45 and thelower slanting face 46, as best appears in the rear elevation of theframe member shown in Fig. 7. The transverse face 44 on the left handside of the frame exactly fits and abuts against a transverse face 47upon the left hand side of the left arm 16 of the rear stock locatedintermediate the upper and lower transverse faces 39 and 43 and spacedforwardly therefrom to the same extent as is the transverse face 47spaced forwardly from the transverse faces 38 and 42 on the frame. Uponthe left hand side of the left hand arm ll of the rear stock there isprovided a slanting portion 48 extending from the face 4! up to thetransverse face 39, and similarly a lower slanting portion 49 extendingfrom the main face 41 downwardly to the face 43 on the lower left handcorner of said arm 11. These faces 48 and 49 fit accurately against theupper and lower faces respectively 45 and 46 on the frame as directlyappears from the side elevation of these parts when assembled as shownin Fig. 1. Upon the right side of the right hand arm of the rear stockI6 there are provided a similar forwardly offset transverse forwardlydirected face 4'! and a rearwardly slanting upwardly facing slantingportion 48 and a downward portion 49 also slanting downwardly andfitting respectively the transverse faces 44 and the upwardly slantingand upwardly located face 45 on the frame and the lower located anddownwardly slanting face 46 upon the frame, in an obvious mannersimilarly to the fitting of these faces as shown in Fig. 1. It will nowbe seen that the transverse faces 44 upon the frame abut against theforwardly directed faces 4'! upon the arms of the rear stock and thatthrough the face 44 being offset forwardly as appears in Fig. 5, and theface 41 on the rear stock being offset forwardly the faces 44, 45 and 46in effect form a mortise into which fits the tenon consisting of theupper face 48, middle face 4'! and lower face 49 on the rear stock, andthus the rear stock is firmly anchored to the rear face of the frame andis prevented from relative movement upwardly or downwardly as to theframe [6. It may be noted that the slanting faces 45 are the equivalentof longitudinal faces to the extent that they slant forwardly and facedownwardly and thus interlock with the oppositely slanting butlongitudinally arranged faces 43 on the rear stock. Similarly theslanting faces 46 upon the frame I!) are the equivalent of longitudinalfaces directed upwardly against the downwardly facing but slanting faces49 upon the rear stock.

It will be understood that it is possible to accurately machine the gunframe use-d in this lock-up construction and to accurately cut therecesses for the lock-up device and maintain a constant relationshipbetween them. This is possible since all of the surfaces of the frameare machined from a constant locating point and it is not necessary todepend on the inner cored section for locating any of the outside cuts.

By molding the stock in a die with plastic material it was possible toaccurately maintain all of the dimensions on it so that the stock may befitted to the frame and have the outer dimensions of both frame andstock conform at all points and also to have the interfitting portionswhether mortise-like or tenon-like portions upon the rear stockaccurately and permanently fit similar accurate and permanentmortise-like or tenon-like projections on recesses formed upon theframe. This invention thus insures interchangeability of a standardframe member with a standard rear stock member and thus there is nopreliminary fitting or finishing of the two separate parts and therewill be no finishing of the parts either separately or together thatwould destroy interchangeability of the standard frame member andstandard rear stock member constructed as disclosed in this invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a lock-up construction for firearms the combination of a box-likerigid metallic frame open at its rear end and housing part of the actionof the gun and having a vertically disposed, centrally arrangedrearwardly extending tang, said fram having at its rear end at each sideof said tang, upper and lower transversely extending, main contact facesand further out from the tang and more rearwardly located relative toeach main contact face a secondary transversely extending, verticallyarranged contact face and between each pair of said adjacent transversefaces a longitudinally extending, vertically arranged step facingtowards the near outwardly directed portion of said tang, the rear facesof the tWo sides of said box-like frame having their central portionsstepped forwardly from said secondary transverse contact faces andforming a third set of transversely extending vertically arrangedcontact faces which are connected at their upper and lower endsrespectively to said secondary contact faces by longitudinally extendingupwardly and downwardly directed portions, a rear stock having its frontportion bifurcated forming two spaced prongs and therebetween avertically disposed central recess into which closely fits said tang,the forward end of each prong having transversely extending andvertically arranged contact faces complementary to and interfitting withthe said faces on the rearward part of said frame on the opposite sidesof said tang, and means drawing together said interengaging faces of theframe and stock.

2. In a lock-up construction for firearms the combination of a box-like,rigid metallic frame open at its rear end and housing part of the actionof the gun and having a vertically disposed, centrally arrangedrearwardly extending tang, said frame having at its rear end at eachside of said tang, upper and lower transversely extending, main contactfaces and further out from the tank and more rearwardly located relativeto each main contact face, a secondary transversely extending Verticallyarranged contact face and between each pair of said adjacent transversefaces a longitudinally extending vertically arranged step facing towardsthe near outwardly directed portion of said tang, the rear faces of thetwo sides of said box-like frame having their central portions steppedforwardly from said second ary transverse contact faces and forming athird set of transversely extending vertically arranged contact faceswhich are connected at their upper and lower ends respectively to saidsecondary contact faces by longitudinally extending upwardly anddownwardly directed portions, a rear stock having its front portionbifurcated forming two spaced prongs and therebetween a verticallydisposed central recess into which closely fits said tang, the forwardend of each prong having transversely extending and vertically arrangedcontact faces complementary to and interfitting with the said faces onthe rearward part of said frame on the opposite sides of said tang, andmeans drawing together said interengaging faces of the frame and stock,said longitudinally extending vertically arranged steps facing towardsthe tang and engaging outwardly directed surfaces near the forward endsof the prongs of the stock and holding the said prongs from outwardmovement.

3. In a lock-up construction for firearms the combination of a box-like,rigid metallic frame open at its rear end and housing part of the actionof the gun and having a vertically disposed, centrally arrangedrearwardly extending tang, said frame having at its rear end at eachside of said tang, upper and lower transversely extending, main contactfaces and further out from the tang and more rearwardly located relativeto each main contact face, a secondary transversely extending verticallyarranged contact face and between each pair of said adjacent transversefaces a longitudinally extending vertically arranged step facing towardsthe near outwardly directed portion of said tang, the rear faces of thetwo sides of said box-like frame having their central portions steppedforwardly from said secondary transverse contact faces and forming athird set of transversely extending nected at their upper and lower endsrespectively to said secondary contact faces by longitudinally extendingupwardly and downwardly directed portions, a rear stock having its frontportion bifurcated forming two spaced prongs and therebetween avertically disposed central recess into which closely fits said tang,the forward end of each prong having transversely extending andvertically arranged contact faces complementary to and interfitting withthe said faces on the rearward part of said frame on the opposite sidesof said tang, and means drawing together said interengaging faces of theframe and stock, said longitudinally extending vertically arranged stepsfacing towards the tang and engaging outwardly directed surfaces nearthe forward ends of the prongs of the stock and holding the said prongsfrom outward movement and preventing relative lateral movement betweenthe front end of said stock and the rear end of the frame.

4. In a lock-up construction for firearms the combination of a box-like,rigid metallic frame open at its rear end and housing part of the actionof the gun and having a vertically disposed, centrally arrangedrearwardly extending tang, said frame having at its rear end at eachside of said tang, upper and lower transversely extending, main contactfaces and further out from the tang and more rearwardly located relativeto each main contact face, a secondary transversely extending verticallyarranged contact face and between each pair of said adjacent transversefaces a longitudinally extending vertically arranged step facing towardsthe near outwardly directed portion of said tang, the rear faces of thetwo sides of said box-like frame having their central portions steppedforwardly from said secondary transverse contact faces and forming athird set of transversely extending vertically arranged contact faceswhich are connected at their upper and lower ends respectively to saidsecondary contact faces by longitudinally extending upwardly anddownwardly directed portions, a rear stock having its front portionbifurcated forming two spaced prongs and therebetween a verticallydisposed central recess into which closely fits said tang, the forwardend of each prong having transversely extending and vertically arrangedcontact faces complementary to and interfitting with the said faces onthe rearward part of said frame on the opposite sides of said tang, andmeans drawing together said interengaging faces of the frame and stock,the said longitudinally extending steps between said third set ofcontact faces and said secondary contact faces on the frame preventingrelative up and down movement between the front end of the stock and therear end of the frame.

5. In a lock-up construction for firearms the combination of a box-likerigid metallic frame open at its rear end and housing part of the actionof the gun and having a vertically disposed, centrally arrangedrearwardly extending tang, said frame having at its rear end at eachside of said tang, upper and lower transversely extending, main contactfaces and further out from the tang and more rearwardly located relativeto each main contact face, a secondary transversely extending,vertically arranged contact face and between each pair of said adjacenttransverse faces a longitudinally extending, vertically arranged stepfacing towards the near outwardly directed portion of said tang, therear vertically arranged contact faces which are confaces of the twosides of said box-like frame having their central portions steppedforwardly from said secondary transverse contact faces and forming athird set of transversely extending vertically arranged contact faceswhich are connected at their upper and lower ends respectively to saidsecondary contact faces by longitudinally extending upwardly anddownwardly directed portions, a rear stock having its front portionbifurcated forming two spaced prongs and therebetween a verticallydisposed central recess into which closely fits said tang, the forwardend of each prong having transversely extending and vertically arrangedcontact faces complementary to and interfitting with the'said faces onthe rearward part of said frame on the opposite sides of said tang, saidmain, said secondary and said third set of contact faces on the rear endof the frame by engaging their respective complementary contact faces onthe front end of said stock forming interengaging pairs of contactsurfaces extending all around the periphery of said meeting ends of theframe and of the stock, and means drawing together said interengagingfaces of the frame and stock.

FRANK T. GREEN.

